THE instability of the government and political unrest in the country will give room for the Sulu group to “attack” and seize more national assets, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Legal and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said said.

She said the actions of the group, which threatens with claims of national assets, were aimed at intimidating the people and robbing national assets.

“They see that if Malaysia is not united, there is political unrest and there is no stable government, they will attack us.

“That’s why we need to accept the decree of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and show that we will govern and bring good to the country.

“If we are not stable as a government, they will threaten national assets. Remember, it’s not just Petronas; they are looking at many more of our assets,” she said when winding up the debate on the motion of thanks to the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Quoting a documentary produced by an international media agency on the Sulu group’s claims, Azalina said the group claimed they were Filipinos.

She said the documentary was about an incident in Lahad Datu, Sabah and related it to a commercial arbitration submitted by eight individuals.

“In the documentary, he (a member of the group) himself admitted that they were Filipinos. This is a sovereignty issue that we should fight in the court of sovereignty, not in the commercial court (arbitration),” she said.

The Sulu group was previously reported to have brought legal action to the Spanish court to seek compensation for land in Sabah, which was allegedly leased by their ancestors to a British trading company in 1878.

They took the matter to Spanish arbitration in 2019 and then arbitrator Dr Gonzalo Stampa appointed by the group of individuals in question made a decision in their favour.

The ruling was used to seize Petronas’ assets in Luxembourg.

Malaysia has subsequently used all available legal remedies to strike out the two awards given by Stampa. – Bernama, February 23, 2023.